Combined ensilage-harvester and corn-picker machine



Mar.- 3. 1925.

A.`G. ROVNNING ET Ai..

COMBINED ENSILAGE HARVESTER AND CORN PICKER MACHINE .Driginal FiledMarch 6, 1915 3 Sheets-Sheet l fric/e 77 fo rtg: rrdrean 6]?077771'779'Mar. 3. 1925. 1,528,635

A. G. RONNING ET Ai.

COMBINED ENSILAGE HARVESTER AND CORN PICKER MACHINE' Original FiledMarch 6, 1916 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Mar. 3. 1925.

A. G. RONNING ET i.

COMBINED ENSILAGE HARVESTER AND CORN PICKER MACE-EINE Original FiledMarch 6, 1916 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fe WH0/"nega eatentedMar. 3, 1.925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDEAN G. RUNNING AND'ADOLPH RUNNING, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

COMBINED ENSILAGE-'HARVESTER AND CORN-PICKER MACHINE;

Original application led March 6, 1916, Serial No. 82.516. Divided andthis application led J'une 30,

1919. serial No. 307,736.

To all whom z'zmay concern:

Be it known that we, ANDREAN G. RON- NING and ADOLPH RONNING, citizensof the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in

the county of Hennepin and State of Mindivision of our prior applicationSerial No.`

82,516, tiled Marchtg, 1916 which subsequent to the filling of thepresent application matured into -Patent No. 1,340,461, dated May 18,1920.

Referring to the accompanying drawingsav Fig. 1 is a side elevationalview.

2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a partial vsectional view illustrating the ensilagecutter cylinder shaft, the husking and snapping rollers and connectionsfor driving the same. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-5 ofFig. 1.

The'machine which constitutes the subject-matter of this application isadapted particularly for use in connection with a tractor, the frame 1of which has front driving wheels2 and either asingle'steering wheel ora,y pair of steering wheels at the rear. Gathering frames 99 arepreferably rigidly-attached to a casting g* which is provided withhollow lugs g5. as shown in Fig. 3, extending outwardly from the castingand at right angles thereto, and which are suitably journaled in thefront portion of the tractor frame 1. The ensilage cutter cylinder shaft71 is journaled in the lugs (75 and carries at one end a sprocket wheel.70. A sprocket chain f3.9 runs over the sprocket wheel 70 and over aspocket wheel 68 of the tractor clutch mechanism which may be fog.`ensilage.

le journaled in the casting g4, and this shaft is provided with aplurality of cranks to which are attached the rear ends of a pluralityof shaker members h? the front ends of which are pivotally attached to aplurality .of supporting members h3 pivotally supported at their lowerends on a shaft k* suitably mounted in the frames 99 as shown in Fig. 1.The crank-shaft h is provided with a sprocket wheel h5 which drives asprocket chain h6, the upwardv loop of which runs over feed rollersprocket wheels h" and ha, best shown in Figj3, which are journaled atone side of the casting g* thereby operating the ensilage cutter feedingmechanism. The sprocket chain h also runs at its upper portion over `thesprocket wheel h as shown in Fig. 1, which is secured to a shaft z"journaled in the casting g* and prpvided with a beveled gear 2- meshingwith a beveled gear i? secured to the upper end of a shaft i* which is-iournaled in the frames 99v and the'casting g* and carries a combinedsnapping and husking'roller 5 as shown in Figs. ,3 and 4. A cooperatinglsnapping and huskingroller i parallel to thev roller 5 is journaled inthe frame 99 and the castin unison so as to feed the received stalks,

butt 'ends first, between the feed rollers of ,l

the ensilage cutter, which delivers theystalks to the ensilage cuttercylinder knives T?. which. in cooperation with the ledger-plate 138,chop the stalks into suitable lengths The machine may if desired beprovided with two pairs of snapping and husking` rollers similar to theones just described, the one pair being parallel and adjacent totheother and being 'operated from the common shaft i. Thesnapping andhuskingv rollers are of the kind ordinarily used in stationary cornShredders and huskers and need not be described in detail. The topboards of the gathering frames 99 incline downwardlvtow-ard the frontand their inner edges diverge so as to guide the standing corn stalksinto the channel between the gathering frames. The -movement of the cornstalks is" further insured by endless conveyers in the forms of sprocketchains provided with proiectmg teeth. As shown. there are four of thesesprocket chains all inclined upwardly from front to rear andpiositivelydriven. The rela- .ranged to run4 over sprocket wheels 100and 107 also mounted upon the gathering frames 99. The sprocket wheels102, 103 and 106 are idlers, while the sprocket wheels 1.04 and 107 aredriving wheels which are -secured on oblique shafts 108 journalcd in thegathering frames and provided at their lower ends with beveled gears 109meshing with beveled gears 110 which are secured to the shaft h. Thesickle mechanism shown is of the rotary-disk type operated by the lowergathering chains 105 and the sprocket wheels 106, the latter beingprovided on their lower sides with miter-gears 9, Fig. 1, meshing withmiter-gears j secured to the top side of the cutter disks l7'2 which arejournaled in the frames 99 and rotate in unison when set in motion bythe gathering chains 105. The shafts 108 are provided with cranks towhich the upper ends of feed members j3 are pivotally attached, saidfeed members being connected at their lower ends tothe inner ends of thecrank arms jt, Fig.l 1, which are pivotally att-ached at their outerends to the frames 99. One of the beveled gears 110, previously referredto, also meshes as shown in' Fig. 4 with the beveled gear f5 which issecured to the upper end of a shaft j journaled in the casting g4, andwhich carries on its lower end a beveled. gear j?, Fig. 5, meshing witha beveled gear js secured to the outer end of a countershaft jg which isjournaled in the casting g4 and is provided with a roller jl over whichruns a conveyer belt 7c which 'at its forward end runs between themembers 7L and over an idler roller k2 journaled in the frames 99. Asbest shown in Fig. 5, the left-hand end of the shaftj9 is provided witha sprocket wheel icl which carr1es a sprocket chain k3, the rearwardloop of which runs over a sprocket wheel Z112 secured to the Vleft-handend of a shaft 7.34 parallel to the shaft j" and journaled inthe castingg4. The shaft 1* carries a roller lcs over which runs the endlessconveyer' belt k. which runs in its rearward and upward loop over an4idler [c7 'journaled atits ends in an elevator frame 'les attached tothe tractor frame l so as to 'deliver into the box' blower pipe tarranged to deliver into the box of a wagon driven along the side of themachine. The tractor may be provided at .any suitable place with aAcable windingA mechanism to which acable m2 may be attached. The frontend of the cable m2 is attached to a hopper' m3 which is suitablyattached to the frame 99 so as to receive the corn stalks from thegathering chains 100 and 105 and direct them, 'butt ends first, intodirect engagement with t-he snapping' and husking rollers i and i".

The advantages and operation of our invention will be readily understoodfrom the foregoing description. As the machine moves along the corn rowthe stalks are cut from the ground by the cooperating disks t7'2,whereupon tire gathering chains 100 and 105 convey the standing stalksupward and 'rearward with their butt ends riding through the U-shapedchute 140 assisted by the feed members je' until they are deposited inthe hopper m, whereupon they are egaged at their butt ends by thersnapping and husking rollers 5 and i and delivered therefrom, butt endsfirst, to the feed rollers of the ensilage cutter and conveyed` therebyinto direct engagement with the ensilage cutting knives 137 which arerapidly rotated by the. engine. The cutting knives in cooperation withthe ledger-plate 138 reduce the stalks to suitable lengths for ensilage,generating thereby suiicient centrifugal force and blast of air to carryand deliver the ensilage to the blower 'fan k", which forcathe ensilagethrough the pipe 't into the box of a wagon driven alongside themachine. As the jcorn stalks are passed between the rollers 5 and z',the corn ears are separated from the stalks, being larger than thestalks, and unable to pass between the rollers. Since these rollers areinclined downwardly at their front ends the corn ears thus removed fromthe stalks will gradually move forwardly and downwardly until they dropupon the conveyer belt 7c. In the meantime the husks are removed by thecustomary pins and gripping devices on the rollers 5 and z' and aredelivered upon the shaker members h2 which are provided at their tops asshown in Fig. 1 with teeth slanting upwardly and rearwardly so as todirect. the husks into the ensilage cutter as the shakers are rapidlyoperated by the crank arms of the shaft h and at the same timeseparating the kernels of corn which may have been' shelled by therollers 5 and i", allowing these kernels to drop upon the conveyer belt7c', nllich delivers both the shelled and the ear corn to the conveyerbelt 7s, which delivers them into the box- 'of a wagon attached at therear of the tractor. To facilitate this movement of the corn the shaft jis relatively higher than the shaft ,k, so that the lconveyer belt kdelivers/nn top of the endless conveyer belt 7c. vIf'itfis desired tosilage the corn ears as well/as the stalks the snapping and huskingrollers i and i are removed from lthe machine, in which event the cornears as well as the stalks will be reduced to ensilage and deliveredtogether from the machine.

We claim:

1. A corn harvester comprising a. harvester frame, a stalk cuttercarried by said frame, means carried by said frame for husking andsnapping the ears from the stalks, an ensilage cutter carried by saidframe, means for feeding the stalks to said ensilage cutter, means forseparating out shelled corn and feeding the husks to said ensilagecutter, and means for delivering the shelled corn and the ears together.

2. A com harvester comprising a stalk cutter, means for h'usking andsnapping the ears from the stalks, an ensilage cutter, means for feedingthe severed stalks to said ensilage cutter., shaker members forseparating out shelled corn and feeding the husks to sald ensilagecutter, and means for delivering the shelled corn and the ears together.

3. A corn harvester comprising a stalk cutter, means for husking andsnapping the ears from vthe stalks, an ensilage cutter, means forfeeding the'severed stalks to said ensilage cutter, shaker membersspaced from each other and having upwardly and rear n'ardly slantingteeth for separating out shelled corn and feeding the hnsks to saidensilage cutter, and means for delivering the shelled corn and the earstogether.

In testimony whereof We hereunto affix your signatures.

ANDREAN G. RUNNING. ADOLPH RONNING.

